Jen's Popperie

I also love the leaf motif...and am always a fan of the seed stitch border for some reason.

We had one peony that opened up on Saturday morning, and now the entire bush of them have opened and flowered, leaving a wonderful spring scent in the air!

I know this is a little late in posting, but on Mother's Day weekend, the entire Johnson Family, cousins, aunt and uncle included, took Grandma Edith to the Twins game. It is one of her favorite thing to do. Here she is sporting her Hunter autographed jersey, thanks to Uncle D. A great time was had by all!

On Mother's Day, we visited Grandma Ruth and she shared with me a book on spinning. My Great Grandma did much spinning of her own on this, her pictured spinning wheel. I will probably try to figure some of this out this summer. It will probably take some time, and some figuring. I just got a bag of wool that my great-grandma Margit used to have, and the carding combs. I'm excited to try it out. It's kind of a special thing to be able to try, especially with the history of knitting in our family!

Here was our fun "Polish Horseshoes" or whatever they are called...they were a hit!

Even Grandma Ruth gave it a try!

And.....we have Rhubarb! Lots of it...I have made 2 strawberry rhubarb pies and they have been fabulous. I'm excited to say I have plenty of more rhubarb for the summer and into the fall!
I've been in the midst of some knitting, sewing and crocheting projects, but have not been finishing anything due to our huge flooring project. Chris, my brother Brian, and I worked a couple of weekends ago on our new laminate flooring. We have been finishing up the baseboards and trim...once it's done I'll post the before and after photos. I can't wait to have everything in order again!

So I recently got caught up in the granny square crochet madness. I checked out the granny along websites, and got inspired. From that site I saw a cute little granny square that I needed to know how to do. So, I found the book, 200 Crochet blocks for blankets, throws and afghans, by Jan Eaton. The pattern that I am doing is the willow pattern block. I love the different colors. I'm actually trying to make my own version of the Larger than Life bag from Interweave. But not quite so big. I was attempting 2 of them for Mother's Day, but as you can see...that didn't get quite finished. Oh well.

We have ferns galore in the backyard..so many I want to dig them up. There is something about them, however, that reminds me of our house on Greenwood Drive...we must have had lots of them. Here is one of the geraniums that I got when at the local nursery. My mom and I spent some time last Saturday picking out some begonias and geraniums. Here is the hubby:)

We are having lots of showers...wedding and baby showers at both of my schools in the next couple of weeks. Here are two wedding cakes made out of bath towels for two different wedding celebrations.


Here is a onesie that I decorated with some hand embroidery and felt...a little alien robot dude...I'm not sure which one.

This was taken on Christmas Eve at my parents' house. You have to love the suprised look on Amy's face. My mom and I totally thought they knew...guess not!



So, it has been a while, huh? The holidays keep me busy, even when I'm off of school. I have finished LOTS of projects since I last posted. The biggest being the quilt that my mom and I completed for J&A for Xmas. I thought they may have an idea we were making one, but they had no idea. FUN!



I have a friend who just had a baby girl on New Year's Eve (Kaia--hope you don't check this out just now...I'm hoping you are a bit busy with little baby Sappington!) I finished a sweater in just 3 days, I guess you can do that when you don't have to work for a bit. Anyway, it ended up being larger than expected, but she'll just have to grow into it. I guess that's the good thing about knitting baby/kid clothes. It was very exciting, because I even added the 2nd color and adapted the pattern myself with this. It was going to originally have a zipper, but somehow in between moving the sweater from one floor to the other, the zipper evaporated. I figured it would be quicker for me to knit button holes instead! HA!

This has to be the most random thing that I have ever made. But, it's inspired and in loyalty to Concordia and being a Cobber. I had to make something "Cobberesque" for Kaia and Will's new little baby girl! It's very random, I know!

I got a great folk mitten knitting book from my mother-in-law for Xmas, and I am loving all of the funny details of the history of knitting from around the world. I love all of the mittens too. I've started one pair, it's tricky, but turning out well so far. I started taking orders for mittens for next Christmas. We'll see how tired I grow of them! :)

Current projects in progress:
cabled tunic from knitty.com
black "boob-holder" sweater
(These are the first two things I have ever knit a gauge swatch for, being the first things that have to actually "fit" me. I hope they turn out alright!)
mitten pair #1
I also finished one of my favorite baby clothes..."Anouk" from knitty.com
It is definitely also one of my fav. websites for knitting...absolutely free stuff! I suppose it is going into the great box of "someday" for when we have kiddos. Who knows if we will have girls/boys, but it's always good to have a stash of clothes since I don't think I'll probably have as much time to actually knot anything.


When visiting my Grandma Edith, I also had her show me how to tie a quilt, since I've only done the sewing. This was a baby blanket that my dad and Uncle David had on their crib when they were babies. It is now a little updated, but it's kind of cool to have something kind of antique. I'm sure my dad would love to hear that! HA! I just sewed on some new fabric for an updated background look.

I have been so busy making and finishing up projects before Xmas that I haven't had the time to update in a while! I have finished one Christmast present that I have been working on forever...secrets secrets secrets. I can't post it just yet, because someone may be getting something fun soon!




And, here is the jewelry I finished for mom for her bday back in the beginning of November. I enjoyed doing the necklace, but it takes a lot of patience to do the earrings...I don't think I'll get into doing too many of those.















The other finished project...well, sort of finished, is one out of 2 skiing socks I am making for Chris for Christmas. It is my first attempt at cabling, and turned out pretty well. It's a very large sock.



Now I have to make an entire other sock! I don't think I could get into doing 2 of everything very easily! I get too bored and need to try something new! I just hope that I can make another one at least similar enough to match. It took me about 1 month, and I have just enough time to finish another one. But, probably not before the snow flies!

Back in June I co-hosted a baby shower for my friend Angie. These are some of the fun things I made for her. I couldn't resist the sweet "pea" pod filled with diapers. I did this in place of the typical diaper cake.
Below is one of the softest blakets ever! I want a giant blanket like that for myself!


My second quilt was a little smaller...my mom and I took it on with a little more time to spare. It was for my wonderful friend, Angie's little girl as a shower gift.


And here is the funniest thing I think I have ever knit in my life. In the book, it was such a cute idea...a little bunting. I know, who puts their baby in a bunting for real, right? Anyway, it turned out pretty huge...and the pompom took up about an entire skein of yarn! Maybe it's just the pom pom that threw it off a little bit. The hole is where the baby is supposed to have it's arms and head free. It just looks funny to me. Maybe a second attempt will be better. I guess it still is functional...maybe? I don't know how realistic it will be for a little one. I guess I'll have to see.